What the United States Attorney did to Vincent C. Gray, and the due process of law in the District of Columbia, is a damn shame. It brings cold comfort to citizens to learn today that the federal probe into the illegal financing of Gray’s 2010 mayoral campaign is over and that no charges will be brought against the former mayor. Especially since the government already effectively tried Gray in the court of public opinion, and achieved a victory with his defeat in the April 1, 2014 Democratic mayoral primary.
Gray’s off-the-books trial began three weeks before the primary election when a federal prosecutor alleged in court that Gray knew about businessman Jeffrey E. Thompson’s conspiracy to pump more than $660,000 in illegal contributions into Gray’s 2010 campaign. In a statement to the media later that day, Gray said the allegation was untrue, that he had done nothing illegal and that Thompson was lying.
But following that public accusation, where Gray was concerned, the government said, and did nothing. No formal charges were filed, no indictment handed up, only government silence. And why not? The damage to Gray had already been done. His takedown was underway. On primary day April 1, Democratic voters turned Gray out office.
Imagine, the US government stands up in court, alleges that a citizen, identified by name, has knowledge of a conspiracy to commit a federal crime and then neither brings charges nor affords the named citizen an opportunity to confront his accuser or defend himself in a court of law.
But that is exactly what the government did to the mayor of the District of Columbia: deprived him of due process, the appropriate legal procedures and safeguards to which he was entitled. And in so doing, the federal government sullied a legitimate political process to which citizens of the District of Columbia are entitled.
And the feds got away with it.
All in all, it’s a damn shame.